LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A couple of German balloonists who landed in a Nebraska soybean field have learned why Nebraskans are considered nice.

Heinz-Otto and Marion Lausch had been flying a gas air balloon as one of seven teams participating in an international ballooning competition earlier this month. They departed from New Mexico with their sights set on Kentucky, traveling for more than 45 hours until bad weather forced them to land in a soybean field in Nebraska.

Marion Lausch went looking for help, but couldn’t find anyone at a nearby farmhouse.

Soon, deputies with the Cass County sheriff’s office arrived. The field’s owner had called police after spotting the balloon dropping onto her land around midnight. The next morning, she came out and apologized, inviting the couple and their crew in for coffee and homemade cookies.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Lincoln man has been given eight to 16 years in prison for forging checks he’d stolen.

Online court records say Clyde Frampton Sr. was sentenced on Thursday. In August Frampton pleaded guilty to two counts of forgery.

Lincoln police say Frampton stole the checks from his landlord and made them out to himself. The checks added up to nearly $8,100.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha man is scheduled to be sentenced in December for stabbing a police officer.

Online court records say 30-year-old Gary L. Jackson made a deal with prosecutors, who dropped a charge of assault with a deadly weapon. Jackson was convicted of assault on an officer and being a felon in possession of a weapon. His sentencing is set for Dec. 16.

Police say that on June 26, Jackson stabbed the officer, Sophia Jordan, who responded to a report of a trespassing at a convenience store in northeast Omaha. Jordan was hospitalized for three days.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Lincoln man has been given 10 to 15 years in prison for shooting his ex-girlfriend in February.

Lancaster County District Judge Steven Burns sentenced 32-year-old Paul Boye on Thursday on a second-degree assault charge. He will be eligible for parole in five years.

Boye shot 25-year-old Andrea Eberspacher on Feb. 1. She survived but the bullet went through her kidney.

The couple initially told authorities they were partying at their house when the shooting occurred and she didn’t know who did it. An affidavit says a witness later told investigators that Boye told others he shot Eberspacher. Eberspacher later said Boye shot her after he began yelling at her.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The owner of a medical waste company says it was an improperly secured truck door that sent hundreds of confidential medical records onto an Omaha street.

Cellphone video taken Wednesday by Omaha business owner Jason Bucsis shows thousands of pages blowing on and around a southwest Omaha street. Bucsis says a back door of a Medi-Waste Disposal truck was open as it traveled, sending boxes of records into the street.

Good Samaritans scrambled to try to help the driver recover the records, even reaching into sewers to grab papers.

Medi-Waste Disposal owner Ryan Funk says he believes most of the records were recovered. He says new policies will be put in place to try to keep such an accident from happening again.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say several University of Nebraska-Lincoln students in a fraternity face felony charges in the alcohol-related death of a freshman.

University police say four FarmHouse Fraternity members were arrested Thursday on suspicion of procuring alcohol to a minor resulting in death. Three other students, including another fraternity member, face citations.

Eighteen-year-old Clayton Real was found dead at the fraternity house near campus in September. Affidavits show Real’s cause of death was acute alcohol intoxication.

The affidavits also say fraternity members threw a party the night before and provided alcohol to underage attendees, including Real.

Sgt. Jerry Plessel says the arrested students are in custody at the Lancaster County jail. A hearing is scheduled Friday. University spokesman Steve Smith says the school has suspended the fraternity chapter indefinitely.

FOSTER, Neb. (AP) — A 29-year-old Norfolk man has been fatally injured in a crash along a state highway in northeast Nebraska.

The accident occurred around 1:40 p.m. Tuesday on Nebraska Highway 13 in Pierce County. Nebraska State Patrol Capt. Paul Hattan says Joshua Petersen lost control of his vehicle, and it rolled several times after he overcorrected.

Hattan says Petersen was traveling alone.

COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP) — A train has crashed into a car that got stuck on tracks after it was maneuvered around a barricade at a crossing in Columbus.

The accident occurred around 6:30 a.m. Thursday on 17th Avenue. Police say the driver was later cited for trespassing and a railroad crossing violation. The driver and her passenger were not injured.

Police say another driver got stuck at the same crossing around 10:15 p.m. Wednesday, but the crew of an oncoming train was alerted in time to stop before hitting the car. The car was removed by a tow truck.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Lancaster County sheriff says a 23-year-old Lincoln woman has suffered several scrapes after falling off the hood of a moving sedan while trying to “car surf.”

Sheriff Terry Wagner says Jamie Peterson tumbled onto the gravel roadway of Rock Creek Road late Wednesday afternoon when her friend who was driving the sedan swerved to avoid an oncoming car.

Wagner says Peterson was taken to a hospital for treatment. Her friend was cited for drunken driving.

The sheriff told the Lincoln Journal Star that car surfing “is an interesting new phenomenon for us,” adding that it “is really a dangerous activity.”

FAIRBURY, Neb. (AP) — The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office has decide to keep its K-9 program after its only police dog died of a medical condition in September.

Sheriff Nels Sorensen said an internal evaluation of the program recommended purchasing another dog to sniff drugs and track criminals.

A German shepherd named Ringo died in September after a battle with lymphoma. He served from 2007 until his death.

The office will conduct fundraisers in the upcoming weeks for the purchase.